Globe announced as Michener finalist for Lac-Mégantic coverage, rail-safety
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The Globe and Mail is a finalist for the prestigious Michener Award for
public-service journalism, given annually by the Governor-General.

The newspaper has been nominated for its investigation into last summer’s
deadly derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Que., when a train laden with crude oil
exploded in the middle of town, killing 47 people. The Globe exposed how lax
government oversight and industry complacency allowed a booming business of
oil-by-rail shipments to proliferate in North America, without any new safety
standards to protect the communities these trains pass through.

Globe and Mail Update Dec. 02 2013, 4:22 PM EST

Video: From the archives: How oil from the U.S. Bakken formation decimated Lac-Mégantic

Globe reporters Grant Robertson and Jacquie McNish investigated the
volatility of the oil, and showed how the crude being transported from North
Dakota through Lac-Mégantic was far more explosive than railways and regulators knew, and that shippers
weren’t testing oil properly to determine how dangerous it was. The
investigation prompted the government to introduce new emergency regulations for
oil shipments, and to treat oil as a highly dangerous substance.

Reporter Justin Giovannetti and photographer Moe Doiron spent months
re-creating the night of the disaster through survivors’ accounts. Reporter Les
Perreaux investigated the rail lines used to ship crude into Canada, exposing
shoddy infrastructure and questionable practices along the route. Ottawa
reporter Kim Mackrael probed the disaster from Parliament Hill, while reporter
Brent Jang pieced together the anatomy of the derailment itself. The Globe is
one of six finalists, alongside The Canadian Press, CTV News, the Toronto Star,
the Windsor Star, and a joint submission by the Edmonton Journal and Calgary
Herald. The award, which was founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener, then
governor-general, will be handed out June 11 by Governor-General David
Johnston.